Saturday marks the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. As we enjoy these long days of summer, they also bring challenges to our lives in the Gulf of Mexico. I often refer to them as the three Hs: harmful algal blooms, hurricanes and hypoxia.
Right now, we’ve got the latest hypoxia forecast for the Gulf’s dead zone coming from GCOOS Board Member Nancy Rabalais’ group at LSU, gliders off the west coast of Florida looking for signs of toxic
Karenia brevis
red tide and Stones MetObs sending data back from Tropical Storm Cristobal’s path through the Gulf.
Biological and oceanographic events like these serve as good reminders of the need for more and sustained ocean observing along our coasts and in the greater Gulf, and are certainly areas of focus as we develop our next five-year work plan under the IOOS federal funding opportunity. As part of that process, we’re also seeking your proposals.
On Monday, I’ll be hosting a
webinar
to share more details and information about our call for proposals (details are below), but if you can’t attend, look for a recording of the session on our home page the following day.
Until next time,
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GCOOS Call for Proposals and Webinar
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During the webinar, GCOOS Executive Director Dr. Barbara Kirkpatrick will discuss the GCOOS system priorities for the next five years.
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University of South Florida Welcomes New Dean
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The University of South Florida has announced the appointment of Thomas K. Frazer as professor and dean in the College of Marine Science. Frazer brings with him more than 20 years of experience at the University of Florida (UF), including leadership positions in the university’s Water Institute, the School of Forest.
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The Harte Research Institute has released its spring newsletter, which includes HRI’s 2019 annual report.
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Not So Autonomous in the Gulf — After All, We're Watching!
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GCOOS is currently tracking gliders and floats in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean on GANDALF, our map-based viewer and piloting tool for autonomous vehicles.
In late May, the University of South Florida’s Center for Ocean Technology team launched the Slocum glider “Gansett” to support red tide research led by Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Wildlife Research Institute (FWC-FWRI).
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Launching Gansett. Photo courtesy Sean Beckwith, USF.
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GCOOS is also tracking “Genie,” Mote Marine Laboratory’s glider, which was launched this month.
These routine missions offshore of Tampa Bay help gather information about water column properties such as temperature, salinity and chlorophyll, as opposed to missions that might be conducted during an actual bloom, said Dr. Kate Hubbard, who leads FWC-FWRI’s Harmful Algal Bloom Monitoring and Research Program. Such routine monitoring increases the chances for researchers to catch the beginnings of a bloom to better understand how and when they initiate.
GANDALF is also tracking 26 Argo floats gathering temperature and salinity data and has a new cleaner velocity layer that allows the streamlines to match the HYCOM and NOAA surface currents layers almost perfectly
.
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Gliders in the Gulf Webinar
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GCOOS recently hosted the webinar "Gliders in the Gulf," with presenter Assistant Research Scientist Dr. Kerri Whilden, Texas A&M University's Geochemical and Environmental Research Group. Didn't have a chance to join? Here it is if you missed it!
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Healthy Ecosystems & Living Resources
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June is National Ocean Month
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National Ocean Month gives us all a reason to celebrate our blue planet. Capitol Hill Ocean Week (CHOW) was condensed into a single day that took place virtually. Highlights from the event included a call to conserve 30% of the ocean by 2030 (30x30), presentations from the U.S. Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON) partners and a new NOAA exploration initiative to better understand our ocean frontier.
- If you missed any of the presentations, you can catch up by viewing archived talks now
- Want to learn more about some of the important fish species in the Gulf? The best available data on the biology of important recreational Gulf species like spotted sea trout, red drum and gray snapper is available via GCOOS here
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2020 Gulf Dead Zone Predictions
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Forecasters — including GCOOS Board Member Dr. Nancy Rabalais, of Louisiana State University and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium — are predicting a larger than usual hypoxic zone (also known as a dead zone) in the Gulf of Mexico near the mouth of the Mississippi River this year.
The dead zone is predicted to be slightly smaller than the land area of New Hampshire.
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The 2020 hypoxia cruise is scheduled for July 25-Aug. 1. The main purpose of the summer cruise is to map the extent of hypoxia and the physical, chemical and biological parameters associated with it and to link the size with conditions in the Mississippi River watershed.
Learn more.
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The low oxygen conditions in the Gulf's most productive waters stress living resources and may even cause their deaths. Humans who depend on the fish, shrimp and crabs caught there are also at risk, says Rabalais and R. Eugene Turner in the LSU forecast abstract.
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Observatory Provides Unprecedented Data During Cristobal
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As Tropical Storm Cristobal ramped up and traveled through the Gulf of Mexico earlier this month, the Stones Metocean Observatory Project (Stones MetObs) received more than 17,000 hits as the data was collected in near-real time and shared through the
GCOOS data portal
.
This long-term deep ocean observatory in the Gulf of Mexico was created from a converted ocean mooring owned by Shell and allows observers to see changes in the Loop Current, along with deep sea temperatures. The cone of the storm (the probable track of the center), passed within approximately 35 miles of the Shell Alcyone buoy — part of the Stones facility, which is globally recognized as the deepest offshore oil and gas extraction project.
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The path of Tropical Storm Cristobal (pink line) passed within 35 miles of the Stones Metocean Observatory (yellow circle), providing unprecedented metocean data throughout the storm.
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As Tropical Storm Cristobal ramped up in the Gulf of Mexico, the Stones Metocean Observatory captured increases in wind speed and wave height 10 hours before barometric pressure dropped.
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Deployed in 2016, the Stone’s mooring is located in 2,896 m of water, 200 miles offshore of Louisiana in the Walker Ridge area. Shell, in collaboration with the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, converted the mooring into the first long-term deep ocean observatory to gather data to expand understanding of the hydrodynamics of the Gulf of Mexico. As Cristobal ramped up, winds in excess of 60 mph (~29 m/sec) and waves exceeding 16 ft (~5 m) were observed 10 hours before a measurable drop in barometric pressure was detected. When all of the data loggers are retrieved from the observatory, hindcast exercises will likely prove valuable in elucidating the relationship between the timing and magnitude of the observed changes in sea state and the drop in barometric pressure. Tropical Storm Cristobal demonstrated that the observatory is supporting safety for oil and gas extraction procedures while at the same time providing important marine data for scientific research and operational forecasting.
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Hurricanes and Heat Waves
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Physical Oceanographer Dr. Brian Dzwonkowski, a researcher and faculty member at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab and the University of South Alabama, recently presented the webinar "Hurricanes and Heat Waves" for NOAA.
If you missed it, you can still catch Brian’s explanations of the complex sequence of processes that transform a notable event into an extreme event — and learn how buoy data can help illuminate ocean-atmosphere systems.
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News from the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Acidification Network
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Join GCAN
Want to keep abreast of all the latest news related to ocean acidification in the Gulf of Mexico? GCAN, the network for coastal acidification in the Gulf supported by GCOOS, is accepting applications for membership. The group brings together regional OA experts and stakeholders to support and improve OA research, education and outreach.
GCAN Photo Contest
GCAN is also revamping and revising its web presence — and seeking your help to do so.
“We’re looking for images that help tell the story of ocean acidification and its impacts throughout the Gulf of Mexico region,” says Jennifer Vreeland-Dawson, GCAN Coordinator. “We’re seeking images that show the risks — or the environments at risk — along with the stakeholders, students, researchers and citizen scientists working in the field or the lab on OA and its impacts.”
- Email your images to Jen.Vreeland@GCOOS.org before 6 p.m. EDT June 29. Submissions will be entered in a contest for cool GCOOS swag and be highlighted online.
Stay Connected
Stay connected with regional OA experts and stakeholders as we work to develop communication for research, education and outreach to improve our understanding of OA impacts.
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Emergency Response & Coastal Hazards Lecture Series Emergency Response & Coastal Hazards Lecture Series
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NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration has developed a weekly lecture series called “You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know.”
From booms to birds, burning to bacteria, satellites to submarines, the series covers topics related to emergency response or environmental protection. The lectures take place at 3 p.m. ET every Thursday.
On June 25, GCOOS Board Member Steve Buschang will present the topic “Remote Sensing, GIS and Modeling in Texas.” Buschang is Director of Research and Development and State Scientific Support Coordinator at the Texas General Land Office.
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In 2010, the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon resulted in the largest man-made disaster in U.S. history. Today, each Gulf state administers restoration funds and programs. Additionally, other agencies and organizations are also tasked with administering programs designed to restore Gulf habitats and better understand Gulf ecosystems.
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A new study in the journal
Science Advances
looking at the threats coastal marshes face from relative sea-level (RSL) rise highlights the need for longer-term data to determine the vulnerability of particular marshes.
As an example, the authors considered an 8,500-year marsh record from the Mississippi Delta showing that at our current rates of RSL rise, “submergence of the remaining ~15,000 square kilometers of marshland in coastal Louisiana is probably inevitable” based on their analysis.
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GCOOS maintains a jobs listing for positions and fellowships in the ocean observing community. Want to advertise a position? Email
Laura Caldwell
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- Executive Director, Harte Research Institute (HRI) for the Gulf of Mexico Studies
- HRI Endowed Chair for Biodiversity and Conservation
- HRI Chair for Ecosystem Science and Modeling
- Mote Marine Laboratory — Senior Research Scientist, Staff Scientist/Program Manager Ocean Technology Program, Florida Redtide Initiative Postdoctoral Scientist, Aquarium Biologist III, Environmental and Occupational Safety Officer
- NOS; NCCOS — Supervisory Environmental Scientist
- Florida International University — Open-rank faculty position in Phycology
- The Water Institute of the Gulf — Data Architect for Environmental Resources
- Argonne National Laboratory -Junior Professional Officer Associate Analytical Chemist
- Flanders Marine Institute - VLIZ-Science Officer Genetic Data
- Postdoctoral Positions: NRC
- Fellowships: Margaret A. Davidson Graduate Fellowship
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GCOOS maintains a listing of funding opportunities. Have an opportunity you'd like to advertise? Email
Laura Caldwell
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- FY21 NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research
- FY 2020 Ocean Technology Transition Project
- Gulf of Mexico Alliance Funding Calendar
- NEP Coastal Watersheds Grant Program
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Many Meetings have been postponed or canceled due to covid-19. We've tried to provide updates below.
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1: GCOOS Members Meeting. New Orleans. Details not yet available.
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1-3:
Bays and Bayous Symposium
, Golden Nugget Biloxi Hotel and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. “Sound Science, Sound Policy: A 2020 Vision for the Future." Begins at noon on Tuesday, Dec. 1; ends at noon on Thursday, Dec. 3
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GCOOS is the Gulf of Mexico regional component of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) and the only certified system dedicated solely to the Gulf of Mexico. Our mission is to provide timely, reliable and accurate information on the open ocean and coastal ocean waters of the Gulf of Mexico to ensure a healthy, clean, productive ocean and resilient coastal zone.
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Dr. Barbara Kirkpatrick
, Executive Director
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Bill Lingsch
, U.S. Glider User Group Coordinator
•
Dr. Chris Simoniello
, Outreach & Education Coordinator •
Felimon Gayanilo
, Interim DMAC Co-Manager & Systems Architect •
Dr. Shinichi Kobara
, Assistant Research Scientist, Product Developer •
Bob Currier,
Interim DMAC Co-Manager,
Research Specialist & Product Developer •
Marion Stoessel
, Senior Research Associate •
Dr. Steven Baum
, Associate Research Scientist •
Jennifer Vreeland-Dawson
, Research Associate •
Grant Craig
, Program Coordinator •
Nadine Slimak
, Public Relations & Content Marketing, Vetted Communications, LLC •
Dr. Chuan-Yuan Hsu
, Post Doctoral Research Associate •
Robbie Iles
, Graduate Research Assistant
•
Laura Caldwell
, Program Assistant
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In Memoriam: Matt Howard, 1952-2018
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